


Market Day

by Kiiratam



Series: Monsters of Mistral [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Action, Angst, Anti-Faunus Racism (RWBY), Asthma, Body Horror, Canon Compliant, Gen, Horror
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-01-31 17:09:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21449761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiiratam/pseuds/Kiiratam
Summary: It's just another ordinary Saturday in a small town in Anima...Takes place between Volumes 4 and 5. (My BMBLB fic index)
Series: Monsters of Mistral [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1546306
Comments: 31
Kudos: 56





	1. Outbreak

"'Nore, are we just going to _sit_ here?"

  
Lenore O'Hugh didn't look up from her sketchbook. "Lucy, you told mom you were tired."

  
"Yeah, tired of listening her barter for fruits, and meats, and string, and all that. I wanted to actually _do_ something when we're in town." Lucy tossed her head, making the beads in her mass of pale braids clatter. "Not just sit on a bench next to the market."

  
"So go find Rocza."

  
"We're not friends anymore."

  
Lenore tried not to sigh. Her sister's relationship with her best friend was... dramatic. Lots of declarations that they would **never ever** hang out again... and they'd be as thick as Faunus a week later. "Well, I didn't bring any lien, so you'll just have to find something to do that doesn't cost anything."

  
"Aaaaaargh!" Lucy flounced to her feet and stormed off. Ten years old, and she still wanted to be babied. Lenore didn't get it. Lenore remembered being ten, and _she_ hadn't been nearly that bad. But it was like Lucy hadn't aged at all in the last five years. Still the baby.

  
It wasn't a big deal. Lucy still had her scroll. And it wasn't like she could actually find any trouble to get into. Town wasn't _that_ exciting.

  
Lenore tucked a few stray strands of blue hair behind her ear, and kept sketching. Just the butcher's stall again, with cured meat hanging up, the parcel of flies that always lurked around, the butcher holding sausage links, the crowd in a vague line, gossiping as they waited-

  
She looked up. Where _had_ the crowd gone? The noise of the market had shifted. Lenore took a few breaths, gathering herself, and stood up.

  
Apart from a few vendors, determined hagglers and disinterested travelers, the market had almost emptied. Everyone else was massed over on the far side of the square, by Doctor Xiong's clinic.

  
What was going on? Lenore shook her head, and stuffed her sketchbook and pencil into her dress pocket. She wouldn't find out from over here. She started making her way over there. Nice, even breathing. No need to push herself. Though, if her lungs betrayed her, at least she'd practically be at the clinic already.

  
She saw the Marshal pushing his way through the crowd. He had his favorite shirt on, bright green with little frolicking pigs. It was hideous, as always. Lenore caught some of the words people tossed his way.

  
"-you going to do?"

  
"Don't want them-"

  
"Filthy animals-"

  
"-disgrace-"

  
"-for the common good, I say-"

  
Lenore reached the fringes of the crowd, and tugged on Big Jin's sleeve. The golden-skinned giant turned, smiling down at her. "Little Lenore. Do you want to see?"

  
"_Is_ there anything to see?"

  
They shrugged. "No. Hu brought her inside, and Doctor Xiong followed, and now everyone's just standing around, wondering."

  
"Her who?"

  
"Oh. The Faunus woman. She looked very pregnant."

  
Lenore frowned. It wasn't safe for _anyone_ to travel by themselves. Even Faunus knew better. And she hadn't seen one of their caravans outside of town. But if Hu the hunter had brought her in...

  
The Marshal mounted the clinic steps, and turned to face the crowd. "Look, folks, I'm going to go inside and get to bottom of this. Just stay calm."

  
A tearing shriek escaped from the door behind him. The Marshal's face darkened under his mustache, and he yelled, "Stay **calm**!" and rushed inside the clinic.

  
Big Jin shook their head. "I hope she's okay."

  
Lenore nodded. Her mom hadn't sounded that bad when Lucy was coming out. She was about to ask if Big Jin could see her mom in the crowd, when she heard a sob nearby. Lenore looked around, and saw a little kid - a Faunus, sitting in the shade of one of the nearby stalls, hugging her bushy black tail. Crying.

  
She looked around. There weren't any Faunus living in town, or even in the outlying farms - except the Ma family, and they didn't really count. Mrs. Ma wasn't even a Faunus. And the little girl was only five or six. Too small to be out on her own. Lenore didn't see any other Faunus, either.

  
Tugging on Big Jin's sleeve again, she asked, "Did the Faunus woman have a bushy black tail?"

  
"How did you know?"

  
Lenore pointed.

  
"Oh." Big Jin's face screwed up, like they were trying to decide what to do.

  
It was like her big sister reflexes took over. Lenore found herself crouching a few feet away, hand extended, a warm smile on her face. "Hey, it's okay. Don't cry. What's your name?"

  
The little girl sniffled, wiping her tears with her tail. "Ju Li."

  
"Did you come in with your mom and Hu the hunter? She's the one with the scary eyebrows." Lenore mimed Hu's giant sweeping eyebrows.

  
Ju Li nodded.

  
"Were you traveling with anyone else?"

  
She nodded again.

  
"Are they coming along? Is your dad with them?"

  
She shook her head, and her crying got worse.

  
Lenore sat back on her heels. What did _that_ mean? She tried not to leap to the worst possibility. "It's going to be okay, Ju Li. Doctor Xiong is going to help your mom, and you'll have a new little sibling."

  
Ju Li, amid sobs, choked out, "Don't wanna Grimm sister."

  
**What**. Lenore waved Big Jin over, and turned her attention back to Ju Li. "What did you say?"

  
Another scream. No, screams. The one from before, and more. All from inside the clinic.

  
Lenore bolted upright, fighting to keep her breathing steady. What was going on?

  
The screams kept going, and the crowd was edging away from the doors. Some people decided that they'd had enough, and broke away from the mass. But before anyone could do anything more than that, the doors burst open.

  
There were four of them. There weren't Grimm. Doctor Xiong, his nurse, Hu the hunter, and the Marshal. All screaming, not pausing for air. And... there was a droning undertone. Like her dad's pipes. And past them came a black, white and red swarm, boiling out of the doors and diving at the crowd. Lenore saw the four of them leap off into the crowd, arms stretched out like claws. 

  
Lenore couldn't look away. The swarm resolved into individual members - fist-sized, wasp-shaped Grimm. She saw one dive into Chen the baker's eye. There was no way she could hear the pop of his eyeball over the screaming and the panic, but she saw it. Another landed on farmer Li's head, and forced its way into her ear, stinger first. Schwartzsen was screaming, and one crawled into her mouth. More. So many more.

  
And the ones with the wasps inside them, they reached out. Grabbed others. Held them in place long enough for a wasp to reach them. It kept going, and going, and going...

  
"Lenore, run!" Big Jin was in front of her, blocking her sight of the crowd. Hu bounded out of the crowd, and Big Jin grabbed her out of the air and slammed her into the pavement. "Run!"

  
She turned around, putting the Grimm at her back. Scooping up Ju Li, holding her tight, she started running.

  
Where? The car was on the other side of the Grimm!

  
Away. Get away. Cross the square. Hide. Call mom, Lucy, dad.

  
She couldn't hear anything over her own raspy breathing. Getting thicker, harder to breathe, harder to force air in.

  
No, no, not now, please.

  
Couldn't breathe.

  
Don't breathe, just run.

  
The edges of the world went dark, and she stumbled. Was that Big Jin screaming?

  
She threw out an arm to stop her fall. Felt a cracking pain in her wrist and elbow as they slammed into the pavement of the square. Ju Li shuddering on her shoulder.

  
Lenore dug in her dress pocket, trying to find her inhaler. Dropped her sketchpad, her pencil, her wallet. Didn't matter. Inhaler. Air.

  
Ju Li screamed, and Lenore desperately worked her inhaler. Had to move. Had to keep moving. Now.

  
The screaming was getting closer. The drone of the Grimm.

  
She looked up. Three of them, jaws opened in shrieks. She didn't let herself try to recognize them, under the gaping facial wounds, the gushing blood. Flying behind them, the Grimm.

  
"Down!"

  
Lenore threw herself flat, pulling Ju Li down with her.

  
She heard a shotgun roar, and felt a rush of air as someone leapt over her. More shotgun blasts.

  
"Can you stand?"

  
Lenore looked up, following a black and yellow prosthetic arm up to the face of her savior. A Huntress. Lenore saved her breath and nodded. She took the Huntress' hand, and was pulled to her feet, still holding Ju Li.

  
The Huntress' purple eyes flashed, and she threw a punch with her other arm, over Lenore's shoulder. Lenore flinched away from the shotgun blast, looking over her shoulder. At the Grimm melting away into oily black smoke. "We need to move." She motioned Lenore forward. "Fast."

  
She could breathe again. She'd go as fast as she could. Ju Li had her face buried in Lenore's shoulder, and she could feel her tears soaking the fabric of her dress.

  
Lenore made it to the bench where she'd been sketching. At the edge of the market square, hearing shotgun blasts behind her, and the Huntress' grunts of exertion. Lucy. Where had Lucy gone? And her mom?

  
"Come on, I'm parked just ahead."

  
"But my sister! My mom!" Lenore couldn't look back. What if she saw them? What if the Huntress had just killed them to save her?

  
"We need to get as far as we can. These things can't live long without a host. More people means it lasts longer. And the chaos will draw more Grimm in. But I promise you, I'll come back." The Huntress had a hand on her back, steering her. "The clinic was the town's safehouse, right?"

  
Lenore nodded.

  
"Anywhere you can go? Outside of town?"

  
"Our farm. We'll have to circle around town. It's off the north road, a few miles away."

  
"Okay." The Huntress moved past her, to a brightly painted motorcycle. "You two are going to have to ride behind me." She pulled a helmet off the bike and handed it to Lenore. "Put that on. Both of you just need to hold onto me, keep your feet up, and stay as straight as you can. Can you do that?"

  
She nodded, and saw Ju Li do the same.

  
"Just hold on as tight as you can. We'll make it through." The Huntress straddled the bike, and beckoned at the two of them. "Hop on."

  
Lenore did as she was told. There was a Huntress. She'd see them through safely. And Lenore could only hope for her mom and Lucy. She didn't have anything else.


	2. Containment

"Stop right there! Hands where I can see them!"

  
The Huntress braked her bike. Lenore had her eyes squeezed shut, not wanting to risk seeing her mom, or Lucy, or Rocza, or...

  
She couldn't recognize their voice - it was too thick with fear. But the Huntress had said to stay straight, so Lenore just held on to her, sandwiching Ju Li between them.

  
"Easy." The Huntress came to a stop, put her feet down, and lifted her hands. "Friendly."

  
Lenore wasn't sure if it was just the motor of the bike, or if she was shaking. She must be. If they were stopped... those things might might catch up. She had to be shaking. If it wasn't her, then it was the Huntress, and that was ridiculous.

  
Lenore chanced a peek. Deputy Lim was stomping towards them down the street, green eyes blazing, shotgun leveled at the Huntress. "What's happening back there?! No, forget it, you're under arrest until the Marshal gets back."

  
"You need to get everyone out of town, as fast as possible."

  
"You're under arrest. Get off the bike. Both of you."

  
The Huntress didn't move. "I'm a Huntress, and there are Grimm here. Point that somewhere else."

  
"License." The barrel didn't move.

  
"Oh for- Later! Grimm! Inside town! Get everyone out!"

  
Lenore had to do something. Deputy Lim was as stubborn as a mule with a toothache. She let go of the Huntress, and pulled her helmet off. And froze, as the shotgun twitched in her direction, not able to say anything anymore.

  
"Hey!" The Huntress half-dismounted the bike, putting herself between Lenore and that gaping barrel.

  
But Deputy Lim swallowed, and the shotgun wavered and dipped. "Lenore."

  
There was a tearing scream from behind them, and Deputy Lim and his shotgun aimed in on it. The Huntress slipped off her bike and faced back the way they'd come, her weapons poised.

  
Ju Li started sobbing, grabbing onto Lenore's arms and trying to wrap them around herself.

  
The Huntress said, "Scout. We need to move. Now."

  
"That- that was Old Qing!"

  
"Was. Come _on_." She hopped back on the bike. "Anything that drives."

  
Deputy Lim tucked his shotgun in the crook of his arm, fumbling for the keys on his belt. "My husband-

  
"Car now, talk later."

  
He dashed back towards his truck. As he threw himself into the cab, the Huntress drove up beside it, and tapped Lenore's hand. "I need you two to get off. Get in the truckbed."

  
Lenore wasn't going to argue. She let go of the Huntress' waist, and got off the bike.

  
"You too, munchkin."

  
Ju Li had grabbed onto the edge of the Huntress' jacket, her hands pale from the pressure. Lenore started to pry her fingers free, like she had to do when Lucy wouldn't let got of her pillow.

  
The Huntress shook her head, and just unzipped her jacket, shrugging out of it and letting Lenore grab Ju Li and heave her into the truckbed. Lenore had barely gotten her feet off the ground when the truck jerked into motion, and she felt the Huntress grab a handful of dress and toss her into the truckbed.

  
There was another scream from behind them, and Lenore dragged herself forward with her elbows, grabbing onto Ju Li. Whether it was to reassure the little girl, or herself, she didn't know. She kept her head down, as she felt the deputy's truck put on more speed. Lenore was glad Deputy Lim kept his truckbed clean - she tried to imagine being bounced around with all the tools her dad kept in the back of his. Anything. Anything but what was happening.

  
She could hear the droning again, even above the engine noises.

  
The Huntress was shouting, "Drive! Pick up anyone you see!" 

  
There was a screech of tires, and Lenore dared to raise her head and look behind them, barely raising her eyes above the tailgate. The Huntress had turned around, was riding directly at the mob of ... ex-people. The Grimm hovering above them, already diving at her.

  
She swerved aside at the last moment, firing off shotgun blasts into the swarm, gunning her engine, jumping the curb-

  
-The droning swarm right behind her, the not-people surging forward in a horrible approximation of a run-

  
The Huntress roared, her hair blazing up like a Vytal Festival bonfire, leaning over the side of her bike, throwing a punch into-

  
A fire hydrant? Why-

  
A torrent of water exploded from the ground-

  
-And most of the swarm dissolved into sickly tongues of black vapor.

  
The Huntress turned back onto the road, starting to catch up with the truck.

  
And the Grimm, and their puppets, recoiled back towards the center of town.

  
Pulling alongside the truck, the Huntress shouted at Deputy Lim, "Hold up!"

  
He slowed to a stop, leaning out the window to look at the chaos behind him. "Grimm don't run away."

  
She shook her head. "They're looking for easier targets. So long as they have more people to infect, they can keep going. We need to get everyone out of town."

  
"You're a Huntress. Go get the Grimm."

  
"Too many hosts. Look, I know about these kind of Grimm. The best thing to do is to pull back, deny them hosts, keep them contained. Without more hosts, they'll die off in a couple of hours."

  
Lenore pulled herself up on the side of the truck, keeping a hand on Ju Li. "But... all the people who..." She couldn't finish her thought. But both the Huntress and the deputy understood. His expression vanished into rigid stillness.

  
But the Huntress just looked down, and said, in a small voice that Lenore barely heard, "I know." She took a deep breath, and looked up at Lenore. "I know." Turning to Deputy Lim, she said, "Look, just get on the horn, tell everyone to get out of town, to a rendezvous point. What's nearby, three, five miles? That should be safe enough."

  
"Our farm." Lenore was determined to help. She had to. "We just got a new barn up. I don't know if we have room for everyone, but-" She swallowed.

  
Deputy Lim nodded. He grabbed at the radio in the car, switching it on, punching a sequence of buttons, starting to talk urgently into it...

  
There was a buzzing from the truckbed, and Lenore jolted, looking around, grabbing at Ju Li's arm-

  
The Huntress had jumped off her bike, was standing on the back wheel, looking into the truckbed, weapons poised.

  
And relaxed. She pointed at her jacket, clutched in Ju Li's arms. "My scroll. Grimm alert."

  
Lenore felt her dress pocket. Her scroll. It must have fallen out somewhere. In the square.

  
She couldn't call her sister. Or her mother, or the farm, or any of her friends-

  
"Hey munchkin, can you pass me that?" The Huntress held out her artificial hand.

  
Sniffling, Ju Li searched through the coat pockets, pulling out the pulsing device and giving it to the Huntress.

  
"Thanks." The Huntress opened her scroll, and silenced the alert. Tapped a few more buttons, and handed it back to Ju Li, still open. "I don't have many games on here, but there they are. What's your name?"

  
"Ju Li."

  
"Your tail is really pretty."

  
Ju Li had nestled herself in the corner of the truckbed, her tail and the Huntress' coat wrapped around herself. She mumbled, "Thank you," and the scroll started making shimmery noises as she started playing a game.

  
"Keep my jacket safe, okay?"

  
"Okay."

  
Lenore tore her eyes away from the Huntress' scroll, telling herself that it was the worst time to try to call anyone, what if they were hiding, what if-

  
The Huntress met her eyes. "Yang."

  
"Lenore." Her gaze slipped to the cab. "And that's Deputy Lim, and his husband is Teacher Kong."

  
"Like the philosopher." 

  
Lenore nodded. "But he's much more interesting, and smart, and kind-" She made herself stop. He might not even still be alive. She wanted to ask Huntress Yang if it was going to be all right, but-

  
-She knew it wasn't. 

  
"Alert's out."

  
"I'm going to bang on doors, get people headed to you." She jumped to the ground. "Any more Grimm show up, I'll take care of them. You just get everyone clear."

  
The truck jerked into motion, and Huntress Yang broke into a jog, headed for the nearest house.

  
Taking slow, regular breaths, Lenore crossed to that side of the truck. She'd have to be ready to pull people in. 

  
Maybe even jump out to help them.

  
She'd do it for Lucy, or her mom, or her dad- she'd done it for Ju Li. Hadn't even stopped to think, just grabbed her and ran. Even though Ju Li wasn't her sister, didn't look anything like her sister. She was a Faunus.

  
But Lenore had still saved her. Just like Big Jin had saved her, throwing themself in the way-

  
Swiping at her eyes with her handkerchief, Lenore checked her dress pocket. Inhaler, handkerchief, pocket knife - her keys were gone too. 

  
She didn't need them now. Her dad was at home, and everyone else would come there, and it would hurt, but they could count everyone, and figure out who was missing, and-

  
Not now.

  
Get everyone out.

  
Huntress Yang had already dislodged a few people, and they were headed toward the truck, fear in their eyes-

  
Afraid people made more afraid people. Afraid people drew Grimm.

  
Lenore swallowed, and offered her hand to Mrs. Hua, who was so proud of her garden. Trying to look brave. Trying to **be** brave.


	3. Wreckage

"Miss Yang?" Lenore wasn't sure if she was awake or not, sitting on the ground next to her motorcycle. It was dark out now, and Miss Yang was facing away from the lights in the yard. "I brought you some food. Just rice and beans, but it's hot."

  
She didn't turn around, but she did climb to her feet. Still facing out into the darkness, her hair catching the light. "Thanks, Lenore. Sorry I'm not turning around. Trying to keep my night vision."

  
"Oh." Lenore walked closer, holding out the can of food. "We ran out of plates and bowls, and- Do you have a spoon? I can go wash one."

  
Miss Yang took it. "At this point, I'm about ready to use my hands." She sidestepped to her bike, and pulled out a little camper's utensil set. "You eaten yet?" Sitting back down, she started digging in.

  
If I sit down, I'm not going to be able to get up again. 

  
Lifting her eyes to road, Lenore said, "Here and there, between everything."

  
"Want a cookie? I got it for dessert tonight, but-" Miss Yang filled her spoon again. "-you probably need it more."

  
Was it from Chen's bakery? Chen, who had died today, right in front of her?

  
Lenore found herself on the ground next to Miss Yang, who put an arm on her shoulder to steady her.

  
"Okay, executive decision." Miss Yang reached into her saddlebags, and pulled out a small paper bag. "I'm a big sister, and you need a cookie." She handed Lenore a chocolate chip cookie. Or maybe oatmeal raisin?

  
It was one of Chen's. Had been? Lenore found herself trying to figure out the grammar, knowing that was absurd in these circumstances.

  
"If you don't want it all now, you can always save it. Give some to Ju Li."

  
Ju Li was sound asleep in Lenore's bed, curled up next to an exhausted Lucy and Rocza, still holding-

  
"Your jacket. She still has it."

  
"And my scroll."

  
"Yes."

  
Miss Yang nodded, kept eating.

  
"I'll go get those for you." Lenore told her legs to uncurl.

  
They refused.

  
"I'm sorry."

  
Her mouth full, Miss Yang waved her spork magnanimously. She swallowed. "Take a few. We've all had a long day. Especially the folk from Harbor. They got here fast. And they're still at it."

  
Lenore nodded. Someone must have picked up the distress broadcast, and floored it to the coast. And everyone at Harbor Combat School - instructors, students, everyone - had come flying in. Literally, their airship overweight, practically skimming the treetops-

  
Coming to help.

  
The airship was gone now, heading back to Harbor, to pick up food, medical supplies, everything that they needed.

  
And the students had held the perimeter, while the instructors scoured town, hunting down the Grimm, finding survivors-

  
Counting the dead.

  
Lenore knew she was lucky. She was safe, Lucy was safe, her parents were safe.

  
She didn't feel lucky. But her mouth was moving, asking Miss Yang, "We got lucky, didn't we?"

  
Miss Yang gestured at the darkness in front of her. "_They_ got lucky. I wrote a paper on those Grimm. Apocritas, I mean. They got a swarm into the middle of town, into the town safehouse, and took out local law enforcement and medical. With a crowd of people outside." She shook her head. "The odds were stacked so high in their favor. And they're dead. We're still here."

  
Lenore recognized that for what it was. An attempt to buoy her spirits. Even if Miss Yang hadn't mentioned all the people who died. Everyone who'd been hurt, scarred, in body and mind.

  
"You're from Vale?"

  
Miss Yang nodded.

  
"You went to Beacon?"

  
She didn't say anything, just took another bite.

  
"Some people thought they recognized you. From the Vytal Tournament last year. You were disqualified."

  
Lenore wasn't sure why she was saying this. Miss Yang had saved her life. Saved lots of people's lives.

  
"You never got your Huntress license, did you?"

  
Hadn't saved Chen's life. Jin's. Hu, the Marshal, Xiong, Li, Qing, Schwartzsen, half the Ma family, Mr. Hua, Teacher Kong-

  
"No."

  
And Lenore actually looked at the person sitting on the ground next to her. A girl, only a few years older than she was. Who had saved her life, like Lenore had saved Ju Li's.

Without a thought to her own safety.

  
"Deputy Lim knows. You called yourself a Huntress to him, and you're not. That's against the law. And he's not doing well." Lenore swallowed, pushing all the grief she'd seen today to the back of her mind. And stood up. "Thank you for the cookie. I'll give it to Ju Li. And get your things."

  
"Hey-"

  
Lenore stopped, facing away from Yang. Took a breath, held it, feeling it above the knot of grief and anger and relief and she didn't even know what else roiling in her gut.

"Yes?"

  
"Ju Li. Are her folks- does she have anyone?"

  
"Me."

  
Her voice thick, Yang said, "Good. A sister is all you need."

  
Lenore couldn't think of anything to say to that. She started walking back towards the house. Steady pace, slow breathing, no need to rush.

  
Give Yang plenty of time to finish eating.


End file.
